Six Nuclear Reactors in India Put at Risk by Westinghouse's Looming Bankruptcy

NEW DELHI (Sputnik) — The construction of six nuclear reactors in India under the India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement is likely to fall off the schedule due to possible bankruptcy of Westinghouse Electric, the official contractor, among other issues, local media reported Monday.

“The truth is the picture is very hazy at the moment,” a senior official at the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), responsible for the construction alongside the Westinghouse, told the Hindu Times newspaper.

According to the newspaper, the construction of the nuclear reactors in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh may not be launched in June, as it was planned before, due to emerging reports that Westinghouse, the nuclear unit of the Japanese Toshiba Corporation, is planning to file for bankruptcy in the United States soon on the grounds of the amassed financial losses.

However, the deal may also be delayed because the Japanese parliament is yet to ratify the India-Japan Nuclear Cooperation Agreement (NCA), signed in November, 2016.

The ratification of the NCA was postponed by the Japanese parliament due to the ongoing scandal around Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s alleged involvement in corruption, known as the Moritomo Gakuen school scandal. The ratification may also face opposition in the Japanese parliament from the rival parties to Abe’s the Liberal Democratic Party, the newspaper reported.

If the parliament fails to ratify the agreement, the nuclear deal between Tokyo and New Delhi will be illegal as India is not a signatory of the 1968 treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons (NPT).

A 2005 US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement, dubbed a 123 Agreement, separates Indian civil nuclear facilities from its military facilities. The agreement safeguards all of India’s civil nuclear facilities under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in exchange for Washington's full civil nuclear cooperation with Delhi.